Junior safety James Zotto from Libertyville, Ill., leads Wofford with 60 tackles, 47 of which have been solo. Senior offensive lineman T.J. White from Troy, Ohio, ranks third on the team with 135 knockdown blocks, a considerable margin ahead of two all-conference choices from his own team.

When asked about winning Southern Conference offensive player of the year for the second straight time, running back Eric Breitenstein, always quick to give credit to his offensive line, immediately mentioned White.

“We had four offensive lineman honored. I would have liked to have one more,” Breitenstein said. “Eighty percent is pretty good. It should have been 100 percent.”

Wofford (8-3) opens the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs with a 2 p.m. Saturday game at Gibbs Stadium against New Hampshire (8-3).

Despite being overlooked for all-conference honors, White and Zotto are certainly recognized by their teammates and coaches.

“T.J. was a guy who came over from the defense and developed into an excellent offensive lineman for us,” Wofford head coach Mike Ayers said. “He is a very consistent guy and has done a great job for us. For us on defense, James is the glue. To me, he's the best-tackling safety around. He rarely makes a mental mistake and has come up with some unbelievable plays.”

The Terriers lead the Southern Conference and rank 10th nationally in scoring defense, allowing only 17.7 points per game. They are No.1 in the league in rushing defense. Nate Woody, Wofford's defensive coordinator, said he was disappointed that not even the league coaches recognized Zotto as one of the best in the conference.

“James is our most valuable player and it's not really even close,” Woody said. “He is the most unselfish, intelligent player. We couldn't do half of what we do on defense without him.”

White, meanwhile, is six knockdown blocks away from second place behind leader Jared Singleton on a Wofford team that ranks second nationally with 348 rushing yards per game. He is 32 ahead of an all-conference teammate and a whopping 76 ahead of another who made all-league despite missing three games with injury. What hurt White, perhaps, is that he is a first-year starter who was not recognized with any preseason honors.

“I guess voters feel like they can't make the entire offensive line all-conference,” right tackle Jake Miles said. “But T.J. should have gotten it. He's a great player.”

“We should have had five guys (on the all-conference team),” left tackle Calvin Cantrell said. “T.J. got gypped. I would say he's probably a little upset.”

“I'm very disappointed because I feel like all five of us did this together,” left guard Ty Gregory from Greer High School said. “I thought all five of us were going to get all-conference. We can't control that. I just know he doesn't have another year and feel bad about that.”

Zotto was named to the Southern Conference all-freshman team in 2010 after making four starts and having 44 tackles in 13 games. Last season, he started all 12 games at strong safety and was named the team's best defensive back. He had nine tackles against Clemson.

“He is definitely one of our defensive leaders,” first-team all-conference linebacker Alvin Scioneaux said. “It's kind of a disheartening snub, I guess you could say. But Zotto is a team player. He doesn't really care about the individual awards as much as the team's success. We wanted him to be recognized, but we have an ultimate goal that's still in our grasp and he's going to help us try to get it.”

<p>When the All-Southern Conference choices were released last week, most of the talk by Wofford football players who made it was about the ones who didn't.</p><p>There were two obvious oversights.</p><p>Junior safety James Zotto from Libertyville, Ill., leads Wofford with 60 tackles, 47 of which have been solo. Senior offensive lineman T.J. White from Troy, Ohio, ranks third on the team with 135 knockdown blocks, a considerable margin ahead of two all-conference choices from his own team.</p><p>When asked about winning Southern Conference offensive player of the year for the second straight time, running back Eric Breitenstein, always quick to give credit to his offensive line, immediately mentioned White.</p><p>“We had four offensive lineman honored. I would have liked to have one more,” Breitenstein said. “Eighty percent is pretty good. It should have been 100 percent.”</p><p>Wofford (8-3) opens the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs with a 2 p.m. Saturday game at Gibbs Stadium against New Hampshire (8-3).</p><p>Despite being overlooked for all-conference honors, White and Zotto are certainly recognized by their teammates and coaches.</p><p>“T.J. was a guy who came over from the defense and developed into an excellent offensive lineman for us,” Wofford head coach Mike Ayers said. “He is a very consistent guy and has done a great job for us. For us on defense, James is the glue. To me, he's the best-tackling safety around. He rarely makes a mental mistake and has come up with some unbelievable plays.”</p><p>The Terriers lead the Southern Conference and rank 10th nationally in scoring defense, allowing only 17.7 points per game. They are No.1 in the league in rushing defense. Nate Woody, Wofford's defensive coordinator, said he was disappointed that not even the league coaches recognized Zotto as one of the best in the conference.</p><p>“James is our most valuable player and it's not really even close,” Woody said. “He is the most unselfish, intelligent player. We couldn't do half of what we do on defense without him.”</p><p>White, meanwhile, is six knockdown blocks away from second place behind leader Jared Singleton on a Wofford team that ranks second nationally with 348 rushing yards per game. He is 32 ahead of an all-conference teammate and a whopping 76 ahead of another who made all-league despite missing three games with injury. What hurt White, perhaps, is that he is a first-year starter who was not recognized with any preseason honors.</p><p>“I guess voters feel like they can't make the entire offensive line all-conference,” right tackle Jake Miles said. “But T.J. should have gotten it. He's a great player.”</p><p>“We should have had five guys (on the all-conference team),” left tackle Calvin Cantrell said. “T.J. got gypped. I would say he's probably a little upset.”</p><p>“I'm very disappointed because I feel like all five of us did this together,” left guard Ty Gregory from Greer High School said. “I thought all five of us were going to get all-conference. We can't control that. I just know he doesn't have another year and feel bad about that.”</p><p>Zotto was named to the Southern Conference all-freshman team in 2010 after making four starts and having 44 tackles in 13 games. Last season, he started all 12 games at strong safety and was named the team's best defensive back. He had nine tackles against Clemson. </p><p>“He is definitely one of our defensive leaders,” first-team all-conference linebacker Alvin Scioneaux said. “It's kind of a disheartening snub, I guess you could say. But Zotto is a team player. He doesn't really care about the individual awards as much as the team's success. We wanted him to be recognized, but we have an ultimate goal that's still in our grasp and he's going to help us try to get it.”</p>